Some of the largest ships ever constructed, these gargantuan giants of the seas have formed the basic units of conventional global power since December 7, 1941.

• CV-1 USS Langley - commissioned 1922, scuttled 1942
• CV-2 USS Lexington - comissioned 1927, scuttled 1942, "Lady Lex"
• CV-3 USS Saratoga - commissioned 1927, atom bombed at Bikini Atoll 1946
• CV-4 USS Ranger - commissioned 1934, decommissioned 1946
• CV-5 USS Yorktown - commissioned 1937, sunk at the Battle of Midway 1942, "The Fighting Lady"
• CV-6 USS Enterprise - commissioned 1938, decommissioned 1947, "The Big E"
• CV-7 USS Wasp - commissioned 1940, torpedoed by IJN submarine I-19 1942
• CV-8 USS Hornet - commissioned 1941, sunk 1942
• CV-9 USS Essex - commissioned 1942, decommissioned 1969
• CV-10 USS Yorktown - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1970
• CV-11 USS Intrepid - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1974, "Evil I"
• CV-12 USS Hornet - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1970
• CV-13 USS Franklin - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1947, "Big Ben"
• CV-14 USS Ticonderoga - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1973, "Big T"
• CV-15 USS Randolph - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1969
• CV-16 USS Lexington - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1991
• CV-17 USS Bunker Hill - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1947
• CV-18 USS Wasp - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1972
• CV-19 USS Hancock - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1976
• CV-20 USS Bennington - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1970
• CV-21 USS Boxer - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1969
• CVL-22 USS Independence - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1946
• CVL-23 USS Princeton - commissioned 1943, sunk in the Sibuyan Sea 1944
• CVL-24 USS Belleau Wood - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1947, transferred to France 1953
• CVL-25 USS Cowpens - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1947, "Mighty Moo"
• CVL-26 USS Monterey - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1956
• CVL-27 USS Langley - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1947, transferred to France 1951
• CVL-28 USS Cabot - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1955, transferred to Spain 1967
• CVL-29 USS Bataan - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1954
• CVL-30 USS San Jacinto - commissioned 1943, decommissioned 1947
• CV-31 USS Bon Homme Richard - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1971
• CV-32 USS Leyte - commissioned 1946, decommissioned 1959
• CV-33 USS Kearsarge - commissioned 1946, decommissioned 1970
• CV-34 USS Oriskany - commissioned 1950, decommissioned 1979
• CV-35 USS Reprisal - cancelled 1945
• CV-36 USS Antietam - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1963
• CV-37 USS Princeton - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1973
• CV-38 USS Shangri-La - commissioned 1944, decommissioned 1971
• CV-39 USS Lake Champlain - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1966
• CV-40 USS Tarawa - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1960
• CV-41 USS Midway - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1992
• CV-42 USS Franklin D. Roosevelt - commissioned 1945, decommissioned 1977
• CV-43 USS Coral Sea - commissioned 1947, decommissioned 1990
• CV-44 unnamed - cancelled 1943
• CV-45 USS Valley Forge - commissioned 1946, decommissioned 1970
• CV-46 USS Iwo Jima - cancelled 1945
• CV-47 USS Philippine Sea - commissioned 1946, decommissioned 1958
• CVL-48 USS Saipan - commissioned 1946, name changed to USS Arlington 1965, decommissioned 1970
• CVL-49 USS Wright - commissioned 1947, decommissioned 1980
• CV-50 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-51 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-52 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-53 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-54 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-55 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-56 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-57 unnamed - cancelled 1945
• CV-58 USS United States - cancelled 1949
• CV-59 USS Forrestal - commissioned 1955, decommissioned 1993
• CV-60 USS Saratoga - commissioned 1956, decommissioned 1994
• CV-61 USS Ranger - commissioned 1957, decommissioned 1993
• CV-62 USS Independence - commissioned 1959, decommissioned 1998
• CV-63 USS Kitty Hawk - commissioned 1961, decommissioned 2009
• CV-64 USS Constellation - commissioned 1961, decommissioned 2003, "Connie"
• CVN-65 USS Enterprise - commissioned 1961, active
• CV-66 USS America - commissioned 1965, decommissioned 1996
• CV-67 USS John F. Kennedy - commissioned 1968, active, "Big John"
• CVN-68 USS Nimitz - commissioned 1975, active
• CVN-69 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower - commissioned 1977, active, "Ike"
• CVN-70 USS Carl Vinson - commissioned 1982, active, "Gold Eagle"
• CVN-71 USS Theodore Roosevelt - commissioned 1986, active, "TR"
• CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln - commissioned 1989, active, "Abe"
• CVN-73 USS George Washington - commissioned 1992, active
• CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis - commissioned 1995, active
• CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman - commissioned 1998, active
• CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan - commissioned 2003, active
• CVN-77 USS George H. W. Bush - commissioned 2009, active
• CVN-78 USS Gerald R. Ford - construction begun 2009, scheduled to be commissioned 2015